Football 2013: Jackson A Big Part Of Northside&rsquo;s Resurgence

More and more each year, young players learn the game of football from video games. The Madden and NCAA Football franchises on console games are so in-depth, even the novice football fan can learn some of the minutiae and jargon that comes with the sport and carry it from the digital world into real life.

Daiquon Jackson is no different.

The Northside defensive end is arguably the best returning player on the Grizzlies’ defense. He plays Madden games each year, creates a Northside team complete with the actual real-life roster of his schoolmates and uses them in-game.

“I was naturally strong and fast. At Kimmons, I was bigger than everyone. I’m not now. But watching it, playing video games, that helped a lot (to teach me the game),” Jackson said.

His technique is his calling card. It has to be.

The only thing keeping Jackson on the periphery of BCS schools’ radars is his size. He’s built like a bowling ball at 5-foot 9-inches and 200 pounds. He’d be on the short end if he were a linebacker and his height is absolutely minuscule on the defensive line. Players his size aren’t supposed to be dominant, especially in the state’s largest classification. But there he is, with All-State honors already to his name, a captaincy likely awaiting in the fall and regular calls from college coaches.

There was talk of shifting him to linebacker in the spring to use his quickness and strength as an edge rusher. That plan has been scrapped for now, and he’ll team with Daytrion Dean on the other end of Northside’s new 3-4 defense to give the Grizzlies perhaps the conference’s best pass-rushing duo.

That’s big talk for a team that gave up 44 points per game last season.

First-year coach Mike Falleur has been on campus for only eight months and he’s already changed the team’s attitude. You can hear it in Jackson’s voice. He truly believes, as do many around Northside, this season’s squad is not the same as in recent years.

“He’s passionate,” Jackson said of Falleur. “He tries to get us together as a team more. He’s trying to make us one unit.”

One way Falleur implemented that was to host a three-day overnight camp. Nearly every player packed bags, clothes and air mattresses and stayed in the school’s practice gym overnight for three straight nights. The days consisted of dinner at 5 p.m., film at 6, practice from 7-10 p.m., shower and bed, then up again at 4:30 a.m. for another pre-dawn practice.

That sort of team bonding, Jackson said, is all the team needs to tack change a couple of losses on last year’s schedule to wins this year.

“It’s so much better. I just think about how much better we’ve gotten over those couple months since he’s been here,” Jackson said. “I just want to see what we can do. See how good we can be and prove everyone else wrong.”